bringing a laptop to China
 

For security/weight/practical reasons, I've never travelled with a laptop to China. But I now own a cheap and very light-weight netbook (Lenovo :)) and I'm thinking of bringing it along. Like on my last trip, I was in a fancy hotel in Beijing where there was free wireless but it was 25 US cents per minute to use the hotel's computer. :td: And I couldn't even find a nearby internet cafe or such.

I'm not particularly tech or electrical savvy. I presume I will be able to search for wireless networks in English, right? And I recall that while Chinese electrical plugs look like US ones, they use 220 volts and the US uses 110. right? That doesn't seem like a problem though because (like on most laptops I think) the adapter on my power cord says 100 to 240 input. But it has 3 prongs, and I thought the Chinese plugs are usually 2 prongs? I may have an old set of adapter plugs somewhere, though.

Any suggestions on using a US laptop in China would be appreciated. As long as I don't "fry it," I'll be happy. :)

You will absolutely positively have no problems there.

+1

Using a laptop in China is no different from using it in any other country, including the US.

Thanks. What about recharging it? The Chinese wouldn't happen to have 3 prong plugs?

Your laptop's line power unit should be able to handle 100-240 so no problems there. Both 2- and 3-prong outlets can be found, so either bring a universal adaptor or pick one up in China (any supermarket, convenience, department, or other store will have, and many hotels will let you have a loaner if you forget).

Usually you'll find available wireless networks will show up in English on your laptop--many locations for free wifi now in major cities in China. Most of these are unsecured networks, so don't do sensitive personal business on an open channel.

The one thing that is very different from using a laptop in the USA and other "free world" countries is the net blocking/Great Firewall of China. An investment in a decent VPN (the SSL type) is a good idea--get a techie friend or colleague to help you with this if you are clueless in this realm, and have it installed while still in the USA.

I have used an iPod touch, HP Mini netbook and even full sized laptops in China. I'm typing on the Mini in Shenzhen right now.

In the Chinese cities I've been to (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan), they all had very nice multiplug electrical outlets. Unless you have a very old laptop which is 110v only, you'll be fine.

All the wifi networks I've seen had an english name, so no problem there, either. Speeds aren't superb, and in smaller cities I've had the internet go out for hours when it was raining cats and dogs.

I will fourth the sentiments already expressed. Spent a month there in four cities and had no problem at all. Do bring an outlet adapter, but otherwise you should be set. Internet-wise, I was at low-cost hotels at universities for about half my trip, and they didn't have internet (wired or wireless) there. Our place in Beijing did, though, and it worked fine.

Also, cafes are not a bad place to check for wireless options, if there are any around where you're staying. In one city I spent most of an evening in a French cafe/restaurant so I could get caught up on e-mail and chatting with friends.

Hope everything goes well!

Laptops
 

I’ve been to China about 15 times in the last 7 years.The plug is different, the two parallel prongs are at angles.
Most decent hotels will let you borrow the adapter plugs or buy from them.
Most hotel rooms in China are NOT wireless you must have an Ethernet cord.
Usually in lobby the have secured wireless access but you will need a password to get in. Almost all laptops sold in the USA can take 110 or 220 volts, the plug is what you need to worry about

Most 3* hotels and above in major cities have free ethernet in the room - including cables. Some have 2 cables. Not too many of them have free wi-fi, though some hotels have pay wi-fi from China Telecom.

To get onto Facebook, Youtube, etc, download a program called Freegate 自由门. It is written by Falung Gong (probably with US taxpayers' money). It works and is safe. No need to use VPN.

I've stayed at 5 different hotels in the PRD area. 5, 4, 3 and 2 star hotels. All had electrical outlets that would take a normal US plug. Obviously old hotels, or certain areas may not have them, but I have not run into one of those yet.

The "standard" wall plate in Chinese hotels can accept two plugs - 2-prong parallel legs, or the 3-prong Australian plugs with the angled legs.

Some of the OEM laptop charger bought in the US has US-type 3-prong plugs - like my Dell Mini10. That plug will require an adapter. But a netbook doesn't require the earth cable anyways, and I have a 3rd party charger that I also use, which is only 2-prong, and that will fit in Chinese plates without any adapter. Same for my chargers for camera(s), phones, etc.

Agreed; the adapter thing is really a non issue; I've purchased 5 laptops (I hate to help popularize the term, "net book") during the course of the past 4 years and 3 of them can use the exact same adapters.

I couldn't imagine traveling without a computer. Even if I had a "3-prong only" model, I'd still bring it along.

Thanks, guys. I'll bring some plugs with me.

I know about the censorship. Yahoo in English is fine, though, right (I've looked at it before on hotel computers)? I have email there that I'd like to be able to retrieve.

And no problems with flyertalk? :)

I posted to FT while I was in China last year.

I wouldn't be posting otherwise. ;)

The government censorship focuses on "community" type web applications. Apart from FB and Youtube, foreign blogging platforms remain constantly blocked.

Also Chinese blogging applications were halted just a short while ago while the relevant authorities are reviewing blog contents and deciding on possible further restrictions on allowed keywords.

On the other hand, the authorities have relaxed their approach on internet porn significantly, a very Chinese style decision to give citizens a channel to vent their frustrations from everyday life.

And I'm going to post from China in 5, 4, 3, 2, ...

Great. Glad the Chinese can get their porn. I suppose it is politically harmless.

Apart from being politically harmless, I guess some people on the government side might be getting a decent cut from the website earnings.

Freegate access is unuseable in many areas (my Chinese ISP for instance) so it is not 100% reliable. Definitely load it on before you enter China and check that it's working, as you may not be able to access a downloadable version from inside China.

Related to some other posters above: FT is also hit-or-miss: some people report no issues, some people report access but very slow loading of pages, some people (i.e. my ISP, again) can't get FT to load at all without VPN or alternate means. It just depends where you are and what the local ISP is doing. There are other websites in this situation, that are not technically "blocked."

I've never gotten a reliable lockon with wi-fi except one day in an internet cafe. I generally do not stay in hotels, though.

No matter where I have been staying there's always been an internet cafe within a few blocks. Recognizing the cafe is another matter if you don't read Chinese, though.

Oh really? I guess I must have been lucky. Since starting to use it this year, I have no problem using if from various hotels in Sichuan, Gansu, Tibet and Qinghai. Also at various airports with free wi-fi.

Just look for this sign:

网吧

I take it from the tone of your post that you believe I'm a liar. Whatever.

No, I am stating that I was lucky, and what my experience was this year on my trips. I have no reason to doubt you. Sorry that you misunderstood me.

I let my wife do the locating. She's a native speaker.

If you're bringing a laptop and concerned that finding internet may be a problem, it might be worth buying a prepaid 3G USB modem.

Both China Unicom and China Mobile offer them; ask for a 3G上网卡.

Info on China Unicom's (in Chinese) is at http://3g.10010.com/3gshop/list_3.html

I haven't seen any evidence of such a change. However, because of the amount of porn far outweighs the amount of politically sensitive data, it is inevitable that porn sites will be more accessible in China.

The fact that porn is mostly graphic instead of textual also means that it's harder to filter out.

Hi - thanks for this info - just what i was looking for! I think :) (not being able to read the page).

Basically I have a netbook and will be staying in an apartment and would like to connect to the net. The apartment is not fitted out with any telecommunications facilities and has no phone line or incoming cables (if you can tell I'm not a techie!)

I'm guessing the USB modem is what I'm looking for? From the chinese page are you able to tell me the approximate costs? I would imagine I would need a pre-paid as i have no residency status in China.

I would usually surf for about an hour a day for email, airline info and the news (just text news, no video or voice content).

And help appreciated.

Regards

lme etc etc

EDITED: i just sent the link to a friend of mine in China and it is 80RMB per month prepaid for 1GB data. But the outright purchase of the USB was proving a little more complex to ascertain so I'll look into that when I get there. (you get the USB modem for free if you take out a one year plan, but not sure how it works for less time than that)

If you are only a short-timer in that apartment, then a USB modem is probably the way to go. Any city of any decent size will have at least one big electronics market where piles of vendors will have shops. Take a Chinese friend or colleague along, bonus points if same is a techie. I don't know what these things cost.

If you will be in the apartment for 8-9 months or more, or if your usage might be heavier than you are now anticipating, it might make sense to compare (a) the costs of the USB modem + prepaid data service for the relevant length of time, vs
(b) getting a phone line installed/activated for ADSL, and then using it wired (or with a local single-point wireless router). Normally line service-based internet comes with a telecom company-provided router and unlimited internet use--paid monthly, cost depends on speed required.

Thanks jiejie! Only have apartment for a couple fo months. And yes, I have a Chinese techie friend! So hopefully should work out. I will just limit my use towhat i am allowed. And haveing just a little will be better than nothing at all!

The prices for the USB modems themselves range from CNY 663 to CNY 1140 (look for where it says "价格: 720元" for instance; 元 is the character for "yuan" and 价格 is "jiàgé" or "price").

The plans are as follows (prices are per month):

• CNY 80 for 1GB
• CNY 150 for 3GB
• CNY 200 for 5GB
• CNY 300 for 10GB

All the plans are listed at http://3g.10010.com/3gindex/card_money.html.

If you're only doing e-mail and text-based news, 3GB should be plenty. You can pay by charging your account with prepaid cards, or 充值卡 (chōngzhíkǎ).

Your other option is to get an unlocked 3G phone that supports tethering, such as the HTC Desire, and just use that with a China Unicom SIM. That way, you only have to carry around one device. You can get plans that range from CNY 66 a month for 50 minutes of voice calls, 240 SMS, and 300MB of data to CNY 886 a month for 3000 minutes of voice calls, unlimited SMS, and 3GB of data. All these plans are listed on http://3g.10010.com/3gindex/money928.html.

I'm not sure where in China you'll be staying or how you're arriving, but I know that there is a China Unicom shop in T3 at PEK that sometimes has English-speaking staff who should be able to help you get set up. If you're not at an airport location, though, try to bring along a Mandarin speaker or you'll be spending the better part of the day trying to get things set up. Just as a note, if you do things at an official China Unicom store rather than buying from a random vendor, you'll have to show your passport or residence permit and let them photocopy it.

Hope this information helps!

Edit: One word of warning that I just thought of is that the software/drivers for using the card will almost certainly be in Chinese only, and may require you to set your computer to Chinese language to use (because Chinese software rarely seems to use Unicode, all the text in the software will appear as mojibake/garbage characters if the system language is set to something other than Chinese Simplified [PRC]). If this will be an issue for you, you may want to either go the tethering route or buy an unlocked USB modem with English drivers and bring it with you.

While I've never shopped for phones there I find just the 元 character is fine for recognizing prices. What else besides a price would be expressed in yuan in a store?? It's also easy to remember--it's pi with a line over it.

deleted

Power Plugs
 

I have blown a power supply (luckily with no computer damage) using a two-prong plug in Asia, apparently due to some grounding problem. Except for dire emergencies, I would always use a three-prong plug. The standard Chinese three-prong has three flat prongs, with two being angled to one another. Get one before you leave!

FWIW, I have never experienced a similar problem (and spend quite a bit of time on my computer wherever I am). I actually only bring 2-prong adapters to China, when possible, because they can be used in almost all outlets/power strips. Naturally, I make sure that they are rated for 220v, but most laptop/phone adapters are 110-220 these days.

^^ thank you! It was very helpful!

There's just ONE THING to be careful about in China. Nearly EVERYTHING you get in the form of DVDs, CDs, memory sticks, etc, will be FULL of viruses. I bought several low-end camera devices (a little camera hidden in a pen, and one in a "car remote") a few months back in Beijing, and when I plugged them into my computer, it tried to run an "autorun" that would have installed all sorts of nasty things.

Good think I try these things out in a scratch virtual machine that I can delete and re-copy from a read only device....

An adaptor to convert 3 prong into the standard 2 would be helpful (not sure of grounding issues). I didn't have one and, in about half the hotels I stayed at (all 4 and 5 star) they didn't have the "right" plug for me in my room. In one hotel, a Chinese managed "5 star," they couldn't produce an adaptor when I asked for one (crazy, right?). I only stayed a few days at each hotel so I relied on battery power when I couldn't recharge, but I could see this being an issue. So get yourself a plug.

Also, I was a bit surprised that wired access was much more common than wireless in Chinese hotels (both Western-run and Chinese-managed). They always had a cord available, though. But maybe it would also be a good idea to bring one if you have one.

I brought a netbook, everything was fine. Yes bring a plug adapter.

Wireless is a bit stricted at hotels, but if you ask at front desk, everything goes fine. Well I was at 4* hotels.